So as it turns out, by the time me and Charles got to the central bunker Anna and her family had gone home. Something about not being able to stand the bunker food. Big derp on Charles’s part but hey, it's the thought that counts. So we decided to head our separate ways and go home. On my way home I started to see more activity as people started leaving the bunkers and heading home. Maybe the food is that bad after all, it almost makes me happy I missed it.

By the time I got home the sun was setting so I just decided to go to bed early after an absolutely crazy day. There is just one problem, a full two hours later and I’m still in my bed just tossing and turning. Not even a hint of drowsiness no matter how hard I try to settle down. Finally I just say fuck it and instead opt to play video games until I get sleepy. I decided to try to beat the Civilization twelve Gandhi easter egg. It’s apparently a throwback to a glitch in an earlier game where Gandhi's AI broke and he went bonkers and started nuking everyone and invading, despite the fact he is supposed to be a pacifist. I’d love to be a fly on the wall of the guys room who first discovered that when he did. You think all is going great and suddenly WHAM, you get nuked by Gandhi. The easter egg in this game is insanely hard though. To activate it you need to nuke his capital while offering him a peace treaty on the same turn. You get an achievement for beating him and it isn't easy even if you do your setup right. All his possible city tiles get full health and instantly turn into nuclear silos, his ai difficulty gets maxed, his production values all max out even without production facilities, and his resources reserves are instantly filled to full. Even if he's surrounded almost on the brink of death he'll rise up and kick your ass. Needless to say I got my ass kicked…. Twice.

Next thing I know it's seven in the morning, the sun is peeking through the blinds, and I’m still not even the least bit sleepy. At Least I figured out how to sit in the chair so my wings didn't hurt. I decide to get up and take a shower. My family isn't home yet so I'm able to move around without transforming, and even more importantly, I don't need to share the hot water. It was at this point I discovered that hot water running down my wings somehow feels even better than hot water running down my back. It's literally hot water down the back but better, I don't know how else to describe it. Drying off was a pain in the ass though. I couldn't reach to towel off my own wings, so I ended up having to let them drip dry.

After that it was down stairs for some breakfast, I just ate frosted corn flakes instead of trying to make anything. Then it was back up stairs for more video games. This time I decided to play Deep Rock Galactic two, because I really wanted to stomp something. And so my bug stomping spree continues until about one in the afternoon. I'm playing my games and minding my own business when I hear a loud thump from down stairs. I take off my headphones and hear the discordant sounds of my family finally returning home from the bunkers.

God damn it, now I gotta keep my stuff transformed, at least when I'm out of my room. Well the good news is I don't leave my room that much so not that big a loss. I head out to the hallway, poke my head over the railing and yell out to welcome them back. My father says hi back, my mouthing says something about hoping I had fun, the twins ignore me, and Tommy is too busy whining for 'real food' to notice.

Something tells me bunker food is going to be a running joke for a while. I head back into my room and close the door. When I get back to my computer I see a message from Anna on discord. ‘YOU GOOD TO VOICE CHAT?’ followed shortly by. ‘Sorry caps lock.’ I reply back yes and immediately get rung to join a voice chat between Anna, Charles, and James.

"Well damn it's Lucky Lucy! How ya doin?" James voice blades over the call.

"Shit, I couldn't sleep at all last night."

"Yea, same here. I had nightmares all night." Anna says.

"Fucking demons, damned things need to just leave us alone!" James says with considerable anger.

"Yea, unfortunately they don't seem get the collective fuck off message humanity is sending." Charles interjects.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"So anyway, did you really get kidnapped lucy!?" James asks.

"Yea, I don't wanna talk about it though. That reminds me, if anyone asks, just tell them I stayed home and hid under my bed the entire time."

"But why, you could go talk on the news or something!" James says.

"Because not all of us are trying to dive head first into the public spotlight James." Charles replys, sounding annoyed.

"But think of the boost to your image. We are going to college soon so it could help." James replies.

"Knock it off James." Anna snaps at him.

"OK, OK. So does anyone know if we got school tomorrow?" James asks.

"Yea my parents got the email a little while ago. Monday is a half day and after that we are back to normal." Anna says, sounding pissed. I'm pretty sure that everyone is pissed about that though. People need time to recover and they are just shoving forward like nothing happened.

"Fuck that! But why a half day? They should just cancel at that point!" James says.

"It's probably because they are using the gymnasium for defender registration." I blurt out without thinking.

"Ah co…. Defender registration, cool!" James yells.

"That's cool, but I haven't seen anything about that on the news yet. Where did you hear that from Lucy?" Anna asks.

I pause for a moment wondering why she's asking.

"Wait, Charles, you haven't told them about yesterday?" I ask.

"No…." "No he hasn't! Mr. stick in the mud here has refused to grace us with what you two were doing yesterday. Keeps saying 'it's Lucy's business so ask her.'" Charles tries to talk, only to be cut off by an over-excited James.

"So spill the beans, what were you two love birds up to yesterday huh? Lucy and Charles sittin in a tree, K I S S I." "User has been muted by moderator" James starts jeering, only to be interrupted by the discord voice.

"Thank god." Anna blurts out.

"James, now is not the time to be a dickhead. Now as I was saying, no I didn't. It's your thing so you can tell them Lucy." Charles says.

I'm still chuckling at Charles muting James to reply so silence hangs the channel for a moment before I reply.

"I guess I should tell you why I stole your Charles for the day. I got magic during that shitshow. Kinda freaked out and needed help with it."

The sound that came from Anna was something between an excited squeal and a yell that made me flinch for a moment before the sound gate kicked in and cut her off.

“Ow god damn it Anna you're gonna break my ears!” I yelled back at her.

“I'm sorry, it's just! You gotta show it to me Lucy!” Anna replied excitedly.

“Fine I’ll show you later, but not at school. I have enough problems as is and I don’t need those ‘popular’ cunts breathing down my neck for favors. Oh and it goes without saying but don’t tell anyone. Looking at you James.”

“User has been unmuted by moderator.” “What, I would never!” James replies immediately sounding offended.

“You would never only if we tell you not to. Lets face it, you're worse than Anna when it comes to gossiping. Just remember that Lucy can probably light your ass on fire if you piss her off.” Charles quips.

“Charles, how dare you! I would never do that to the poor fire!” I reply sarcastically.

“Ha ha, how about we don’t light James on fire guys. So Lucy, what spells do you have right now?” Anna cuts in.

I pause for a moment and think carefully. I can’t exactly say oh yea I have racial flight magic and mimicry would seem weird and might draw the bad kind of attention. Even if I trust Anna, and to some extent James, to bot run their mouths it's better to be safe than sorry.

"I got some weird screech spell, I can yell to make them nauseous or hurt their ears." I reply.

"Eh, maybe you can get Reina to shut the fuck up when she starts throwing a damned tantrum then." James says.

"You know damn well all that would do is make her cry to her daddy, and it's illegal. I don't need a defender and the cops up my ass." I reply.

One of the reasons Reina was so high and mighty, and a cunt, is because her dad is the highest ranking local defender. And that dude spoils the fuck out her. Underage drinking charge? Let's sweep that under the rug. Assaulted someone? Never happened. Speeding ticket? Officer misread the radar.

"Wait, do you only have one spell Lucy? I thought people were supposed to start out with three random ones." Anna cuts in.

"It's between one and three, depending on the spells or magic." James replies in my stead.

"Yea what James said, I think it's a good spell but I haven't had the opportunity to check yet. So, anyone wana play something?" I ask, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh how about DRG2!" James yells excitedly.

"I'm down for whatever." Charles says.

"Uhhh, my computer can only play Minecraft guys, remember?" Anna says sheepishly.

"Damn, you still haven't upgraded Anna?" James says.

"I guess we are playing Minecraft then." I say.

And so we played mine craft on a random survival server we found. The game is almost as old as my parents and still somehow relevant. Charles tried to manage our resources, James wasted most of them, Anna got blown up by a creeper. Apparently squares are good enough to entertain monkey brains for multiple generations, who knew?